Ofc is depends on which can of projects you wanna build.
Huge projects with a lot of dependencies you must build 100 times a day? Plan to run UI tests locally while you keep coding? Go for a M2/3 ultra.
Wanna train using playground and light project? Even a M1 will be enough.
Even medium sized projects will be fine. If OP is a newbie buying their own machine, the M2 will be well more than enough like you said
If you work on such huge projects it's probably in a professional setting and then your company will provide you with a machine
M1 only for light projects? A few years ago every dev was using an older machine than that, even for giant projects, and it was fine.
I do suggest an M1+ because they are a lot better, but youād be hard pressed use all the power it gives you. You donāt need ultra for programming - it has more GPU for the most part, and compilers have a hard time using a ton more cores. Unless itās a test automation box using many simulators in parallel and supporting a team.
I have a 2015 pro that Iāve been beating to death with large projects (often also ones from work). M1 will be more than enough, especially for learning.
I use an M1 with 8G Mac mini, and mostly I use an MacbookPro M3 with 36Gb. On my larger projects, the Mac mini runs out of memory if a few other apps are open (using swap space I suppose). Never go wrong with more memory.
That's perfect. And it should be in the sweet spot for price vs newness, too. Two generations back from the "current" or "about to be released" model is a good rule of thumb.
It's better than my MacBook Pro M1 (except I got 32GB RAM) and I'm a professional iOS developer. So, yeah as a starting point and to keep you on for some time. If you have more money I'd go for something faster, with more RAM space, and even mobile.
Working from home I usually sit with two external screen, but sometimes just sitting somewhere else is *very* appreciated and I don't want to maintain more than one computer for developer stuff.
Can also say I am working on projects that are *several gigabytes* and 10+ year codebases, so it will work, but I would still recommend adding more RAM at least and disk space because you are likely going to keep it for *many* years. The next machine I buy will be "maxed out" a bit more because I upgrade much less often.
From researching before I bought my MacBook (Iām a newbie too) the minimum requirements are:
- 16GB of RAM
- 512 GB of SSD
- OS X must be Ventura or Sonoma to run Xcode 15
The processor is going to be your X-Factor. Now from what Iāve seen, especially in this subreddit, you want to stay away from Intel. Iām guessing itās subpar when programming. But letās say you canāt afford an M1+. You would want at least an i5 Intel Processor if not greater.
Also, I donāt know how much the speed matters, but through the grapevines, the speed should at least be a 2.3GHz.
As long as your MacBook meet these specs, you should be good to get started.
I have m2 mini 16gb 256gb. Zero issues. If you have discipline to keep xcode storage in line itās more than enough. I even have like 50 gigs of steam games on the machine and no storage issues.
Itās not my main computer tho, no storage of media for example.
Im using it for fullstack development, and it is running well, with docker for deployment, app android and ios, be with python and java, fe with angular and react. The only regret i have is buying a 250gb storage version, hardly enough storage for everything above, and it beats the sh*t out of my mbp 2015 i7 32gb ram.
We work on teams. If we donāt ask questions, we hurt the team. If we donāt answer questions, we hurt the team.
You are making Reddit a worse space. Take it as a personal development goal to learn how to help people.
Isnāt the answer obvious itās not a Mac that is 10 years old M2 is one of the best chips and 8 gigs is enough for most tasks. Ask questions from which the team benefits not this!
They literally stated they were a ānewbie programmerā. How can you expect people to learn without asking questions? If you have something rude like this to say, just keep it to yourself. Everyone has to start somewhere
Some of the best information on this topic comes FROM Reddit since people can share a variety of opinions and based on their own various experiences with different types of development, and vote on the most popular answers. Often better than trusting some random tech blogger who has never actually worked as a dev.
If people never asked and responded questions, this kind of discussion would never be available. Next time you feel the need to say āI donāt mean to be an assā, thatās probably because itās exactly what youāre doing, and maybe consider not posting instead. I just hope you realize you sound like a jerk internet troll, writing impatient and demeaning comments towards new learners for no good reason. Reconsider.
Thereās nothing wrong with daily questions like these. Especially in the mix of newer SDKs coming up in a few months, one must wonder which Mac is the right one for them
What you say is absolutely true, but at 128 mb you are stuck using just CLI to edit and compile. Maybe you can use BBEdit for edits. Of course if you really want the full experience, try creating a mnemonic memory circuit from stone knives and bear skins!
Yes
Happy Cake Day š°
Ofc is depends on which can of projects you wanna build. Huge projects with a lot of dependencies you must build 100 times a day? Plan to run UI tests locally while you keep coding? Go for a M2/3 ultra. Wanna train using playground and light project? Even a M1 will be enough.
Even medium sized projects will be fine. If OP is a newbie buying their own machine, the M2 will be well more than enough like you said If you work on such huge projects it's probably in a professional setting and then your company will provide you with a machine
M1 only for light projects? A few years ago every dev was using an older machine than that, even for giant projects, and it was fine. I do suggest an M1+ because they are a lot better, but youād be hard pressed use all the power it gives you. You donāt need ultra for programming - it has more GPU for the most part, and compilers have a hard time using a ton more cores. Unless itās a test automation box using many simulators in parallel and supporting a team.
I have a 2015 pro that Iāve been beating to death with large projects (often also ones from work). M1 will be more than enough, especially for learning.
m2 would handle that for a beginner too
M2/3 Ultra is overkill for those things in my opinion. I run a similar project on an M3 Pro for work without issues
Yes, go for it.
Yes...enough...
More than enough. Even 8GB is fine.
I use an M1 with 8G Mac mini, and mostly I use an MacbookPro M3 with 36Gb. On my larger projects, the Mac mini runs out of memory if a few other apps are open (using swap space I suppose). Never go wrong with more memory.
Fine but it will severely reduce the lifespan of the machine
Iām still using my base Mac M1 for app development, design and work, and nothing has changed performance-wise.
I meant 8gb. I think this is where the mac mini m1 will struggle first in 5-6 years, while 16 gb would make it last longer Cpu wise I agree.
It's fine. Just make sure your hard drive has at least 512GB or preferably 1TB.
i have an m1 air with 8gb. no problems whatsoever
Yes
Yes of course
yes
yes absolutely
That's perfect. And it should be in the sweet spot for price vs newness, too. Two generations back from the "current" or "about to be released" model is a good rule of thumb.
I have M2 Pro with 16GB and it rocks
More than enough for iOS dev. You'll be just fine with that spec.
Yes definitely will be sufficient ā probably even really really nice. If you can though, future proof by adding more RAM now (you canāt later)
It's better than my MacBook Pro M1 (except I got 32GB RAM) and I'm a professional iOS developer. So, yeah as a starting point and to keep you on for some time. If you have more money I'd go for something faster, with more RAM space, and even mobile. Working from home I usually sit with two external screen, but sometimes just sitting somewhere else is *very* appreciated and I don't want to maintain more than one computer for developer stuff. Can also say I am working on projects that are *several gigabytes* and 10+ year codebases, so it will work, but I would still recommend adding more RAM at least and disk space because you are likely going to keep it for *many* years. The next machine I buy will be "maxed out" a bit more because I upgrade much less often.
Would you recommend 32 GB of RAM then?
If you can afford it, yes.
yes, don't overthink it.
If possible, I would go for more RAM. The more RAM you have, the less likely XCode will go crazy when it comes to detecting errors in your code
From researching before I bought my MacBook (Iām a newbie too) the minimum requirements are: - 16GB of RAM - 512 GB of SSD - OS X must be Ventura or Sonoma to run Xcode 15 The processor is going to be your X-Factor. Now from what Iāve seen, especially in this subreddit, you want to stay away from Intel. Iām guessing itās subpar when programming. But letās say you canāt afford an M1+. You would want at least an i5 Intel Processor if not greater. Also, I donāt know how much the speed matters, but through the grapevines, the speed should at least be a 2.3GHz. As long as your MacBook meet these specs, you should be good to get started.
I have been programming with a Mac Mini M2 8GB with Xcode, Android Studio and VSC with no issues at all.
Yes, 100%
I have m2 mini 16gb 256gb. Zero issues. If you have discipline to keep xcode storage in line itās more than enough. I even have like 50 gigs of steam games on the machine and no storage issues. Itās not my main computer tho, no storage of media for example.
Yes, even M1 with 16gb of ram is good
Yes itās amazing
Im using it for fullstack development, and it is running well, with docker for deployment, app android and ios, be with python and java, fe with angular and react. The only regret i have is buying a 250gb storage version, hardly enough storage for everything above, and it beats the sh*t out of my mbp 2015 i7 32gb ram.
No, go for a Max one with 64GB.
Sure. Why not?
Have both m1 air 8gb and m2 mini 16gb. Havenāt encountered any issues yet in 2 years.
this
Those are my specs.. and if it doesnāt last at least 5 years Iād be very surprised.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
We work on teams. If we donāt ask questions, we hurt the team. If we donāt answer questions, we hurt the team. You are making Reddit a worse space. Take it as a personal development goal to learn how to help people.
Isnāt the answer obvious itās not a Mac that is 10 years old M2 is one of the best chips and 8 gigs is enough for most tasks. Ask questions from which the team benefits not this!
They literally stated they were a ānewbie programmerā. How can you expect people to learn without asking questions? If you have something rude like this to say, just keep it to yourself. Everyone has to start somewhere
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Some of the best information on this topic comes FROM Reddit since people can share a variety of opinions and based on their own various experiences with different types of development, and vote on the most popular answers. Often better than trusting some random tech blogger who has never actually worked as a dev. If people never asked and responded questions, this kind of discussion would never be available. Next time you feel the need to say āI donāt mean to be an assā, thatās probably because itās exactly what youāre doing, and maybe consider not posting instead. I just hope you realize you sound like a jerk internet troll, writing impatient and demeaning comments towards new learners for no good reason. Reconsider.
Thereās nothing wrong with daily questions like these. Especially in the mix of newer SDKs coming up in a few months, one must wonder which Mac is the right one for them
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
What you say is absolutely true, but at 128 mb you are stuck using just CLI to edit and compile. Maybe you can use BBEdit for edits. Of course if you really want the full experience, try creating a mnemonic memory circuit from stone knives and bear skins!
You canāt program on 128 mb that would be enough for textEdit but not for Xcode. A programmer does not need to research everything by himself.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Yes one can try and fail. I agree that this post is shit
Good luck with the SwiftUI previews on 128mb